BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Lottery officials say the Nampa man who held the winning $1 million Raffle ticket was using it as an ornament on the family Christmas tree.
Mark Rossiter came forward to claim his big prize in Boise today.
Rossiter purchased the ticket at the Maverik store in Star on Nov. 28, 2012, then took it home in its orange envelope and placed on the tree's branches.
The envelope containing the winning Raffle number of 108847 was worth $1 million after the Jan. 2, 2013 drawing. However, it stayed on the Christmas tree until the family took down their holiday decorations this past weekend.
"We were a little slow in taking down our decorations this year," explained Rossiter when he claimed the winning ticket at Idaho Lottery offices. "I pulled the ticket off the tree and went to check the number on the Internet just to be sure it wasn't a winner before we threw it away. When I did, holy moly, we had the $1,000,000 ticket."
This was the third consecutive year that a Maverik Store has sold the top prize in the Idaho $1,000,000 Raffle. Nearly one out of every ten tickets sold for the Raffle was bought at Maverik. For selling the winning ticket, Maverik receives a $20,000 bonus from the Idaho Lottery.
"The next time I play, I'm going to Maverik," said Rossiter. He and his family plan to pay down bills, set aside money for college, and invest the rest of the winnings.
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Thanks to HoLeeKau and xx for the tip.
Holy Cow
, Congrats to them.
Now that's a guy with his head on straight. I think he's very unlikely to blow the money and have nothing to show for it. I'll have to remember to make a trip to Maverik for the next raffle.
Congrats to the Rossiter family.
He must have a lot of bills if all he can do with a million is "pay them down"
Bad idea to have it as a Christmas ornament. Anything could've happened to it, like a family member or relative could've claimed it or it could've got robbed. But nevertheless, glad that he was able to claim it. Spend the money wisely.
I thought the same thing! Congrats to a nice family who makes Christmas a two month event.
Or even worse, they could have had the 10 and 13 year old take down the tree, and, thinking it was some weird orange Boise State Broncos ornament, they just stuck it in the box with the other decorations. Then next November, approximately 5 months after it has expired, they find it when they decorate for 2013. Now that would be a horror movie.
Over the years I've found a couple expired tickets that I bought and never checked.
I threw 'em away without checking 'em cuz if they were winners I didn't wanna know about it.
Congrats to them- however something about this story does not add up..Posting a million $ ticket as a Christmas ornament- really? l guess this person has never heard of christmas trees catching on fire?
l have read of people putting their winning tickets in the freezer but not on trees.
Nevertheless all is well that ends well.
OmGgggGG! Wow , what a story!!! Congrats to the winners!!
I agree dog. You would'nt see Santa Claus anymore.
And that family member would have ended up in jail.
I'm 100% sure they would have gotten caught.
No family member theif, no burning tree, it was meant to be for him win.
Congrats to the winner!!!
Congratulations to the winner......
That's one cool Christmas ornament, Congrats to the winners.
intersting that you found tix over a year old and KNEW that you hadnt checked em, do you have a special spot for unchecked tix? Or do you find them in the same place you hid them the day you purchased them?
Perhaps they were taped to the bottom of a certain shine jug?